A couple of you caught the removal of David Williams from our recruiting classes table yesterday on Inside the Hall and asked for an explanation. It’s been rumored for quite a while that IU and Williams have parted ways, but it was all speculation until recently.

Yesterday, we learned that Williams would not sign with IU, which prompted our removal of his name from the site. Today, our friend and Herald-Times Sports Editor Chris Korman confirmed the news via The Hoosier Scoop:

I’ve spoken with Dwight Williams, the father of Florida wing David Williams, a couple of times on the phone today. Though Dwight is busy dealing with work, he did say that David will not sign a letter of intent with Indiana during the early signing period, which begins tomorrow.

David should have time to explain his decision soon, Dwight said.

Expect a Letter of Intent tomorrow from Victor Oladipo and continued pursuit of Will Sheehey, Jelan Kendrick and Josh Selby as Indiana looks to add to its 2010 class. We’ve updated the scholarship numbers page accordingly.

I know you guys are going to get upset at me for this. But I think all the fault lies on us. I think the poor kid backed out because so many (including myself) were questioning the reasoning. I don't blame williams for accepting the schollie. If I would have been offered a scholarship from a big time program, I would have jumped at the first chance. We could have waited but I think Coach Crean was too quick on the trigger. Unless they are highly recruited players, I feel you can afford to wait a bit so that one you have more time to evaluate a kid and two give yourself some time to see what else develops with other big time athletes. I understand it's the nature of the business but it wasn't like this kid was highly recruited. I hate giving athletes false hopes.

cooper

Its the schools fault. They should have never gone after him, gotta wonder what they were thinking. If they were going to keep him they should have made that abundantly clear to him. My guess is he was told to back out

poo

Glad he's not coming lol

GFDave

I don't know that there has to be any fault assigned to either party. We don't know what was said and how the whole thing came about. Could be miscommunication. Could be that conditions that were discussed upfront cane about whereby it was known that our offer was going to be rescinded. Could be the kid wanted a coach who was offering more playing time. I'll be interested in hearing what David has to say.

We had a comment that had to be removed that stated, “Glad he's not coming, lol.”

Let's act like adults.

Diesel

Agreed. Do we really need to place blame? (It was the poll Alex!) Geesh, this is friggin college basketball, not life and death, criminal assault, marital divorce, world war, etc, etc. It will be interesting to see what Jody has to say tonight on his live recruiting Q and A and what David himself has to say about this, but for now let's just let it play out.

On behalf of all Hoosiers, we wish you well David Williams.

Hoosier_Hound

I don't have any idea what happened here, whether Crean backed out or Williams did. It might be skill level or playing time or academics or something else, who knows. But I wish Williams the best in choosing which college to attend, it's a very tough yet important decision for an 18 year old to make.

MillaRed

All anyone can do is speculate until Williams gives a statement. IU's hands are tied in terms of recruiting news.

This stuff happens. The writing was on the wall. I'm sure it will work out for both parties. The kid will land at a good school that will be glad to have him.

I will confess until some clarification is offered it doesn't reflect greatly upon CTC does it? I'm not getting too caught up in it. It's just been strange from the start.

J….I actually agree with you to a certain extent….I blame Crean on this one and having a quick trigger, we dont know the whole story, we don't know if D. Will was a link to another player….however…I give the IU faithful/ITH faithful credit, we kinda knew this was coming, so it is no surprise.

Now about that scholly……? I wish the kid well, I hope he finds a school that is a good fit for him and has a great senior year.

For the record, this is all material which has been pilfered from a Rivals report that was published yesterday. I'm actually surprised the Star would find it appropriate to essentially copy a paid Rivals story.

BGleas

They did cite Rivals throughout the article, although I guess you're right that the rules change a bit when you take from a pay site.

Bryan

Thus ends the strange recruitment of David Williams. I feel bad that this kid got caught in the middle of this, but who knows why both sides appear to have parted ways. It could be that IU recruited him as a project, someone who the staff felt would be a contributor in year 3 or 4, while David may have felt he had other options for immediate playing time.

I really think this is a good move for both parties. David will benefit from playing more minutes elsewhere.

Diesel

I'll take the bait. I still think we oversign by 1 getting 3 guys for this class, so VO is in tomorrow, Sheehey a week later, and a recruiting coup will bring in Kendrick in the spring.

So much for all the redshirt discussions with Bawa. My take was that if Bawa and Jobe were equals, go for the redshirt. Clearly Bawa is better and will get a chance to develop with some minutes on the floor this year as well.

jgongora86

Well I feel bad for David Williams from an educational standpoint. Iu is a great school for academics, and it seems that other major d-1 programs are not biting. I know he's doing well in school, so I got the impression that this was a means for him to get a great education for free. From that standpoint I feel bad we offered him to raise his hopes.

HoosierSmitty

Let's wish him the best. He has to have a nice upside or else Crean would not have considered him to become part of the Indiana basketball team.

For reasons that we can only speculate, the two are parting ways, and that's just how it happens sometimes.

I'm sure he'll land somewhere that fits him perfectly. Best of luck with your future, David Williams.

GFDave

Interesting territory for sure. The source was cited. But the source has rules for use of its content. Will the Star be banned as a subscriber? Can the Star use surrogates to gain info? Its a new world.

Marcus Gresham

Rick Bozich of the Louisville Courier-Journal and 1450 am in Louisville (and the father Alex, who wrote this story,) said on the radio that he had heard Williams was apparently a part of a package-deal gone wrong. I'm guessing he'd have been the Scott May, Jr. to someone else's Sean May. He seemed from interviews to be a good kid, and I do hope he ends up finding a good landing spot and has a good career–let's just hope it's not at a mid-major that lines up against IU in the tournament in 3 or 4 years where he gets his revenge.

IUonetwo

I agree with your point on Bawa. I get the feeling that the player we will at the end of the season will look very different than the one we saw at Hoosier Hysteria.

IUonetwo

If nothing else, I'm sure IU has gotten Williams some attention from mid-majors. These schools will see something in him if there was interest from IU.

Marcus Gresham

According to Rick Bozich of the Louisville Courier-Journal and 1450 am radio (and the father of Alex Bozich) Williams was possibly a part of a package deal gone wrong. Not sure who the other (and I'm assuming bigger) name was, but that's what he said on the radio the other day.